MAY DAY

Reclaiming its True Revolutionary Spirit,

�Never Forget The Class�

Sukomal Sen

WHEN May Day celebration has almost been reduced to an annual formality, it seems incumbent to reclaim the saga of heroism of May Day martyrdom and its revolutionary ideology in order to reimbibe the significance of May Day in its original vision of class solidarity, deep hatred against capitalism and building a new world free from wage slavery.

At the outset, it is worth quoting The Masses of India, the Journal of the �migr� Communist Party of India and edited by MN Roy and published from Paris in 1925:

The real spirit and significance of May Day lies in the fact that for one day, the workers of the world demonstrate their solidarity by declaring a General Strike, step out of the factory and work-shop and throng together in meetings and processions, to show that this day is their own. It is the symbolical forerunner of that great day when International Labour shall proclaim its solidarity, not for one day in the year only, but for all time. The real significance of May Day is in its revolutionary conception and spirit, in its demonstration of the International solidarity of the workers of the world against common foe, leagued together for the achievement of a common ideal.

Next year, May 1926, The Masses of India, reproduced an article by V I Lenin under the caption: �Break The Chains Of Slavery�

Comrades, let us consider our situation carefully; let us contemplate the conditions under which we lead our lives. What do we see? We work hard, we produce countless riches, gold and tissues, brocade and velvet; we haul iron and coal from the depths of the earth; we construct machinery. All the riches of the world are created by our hands, are produced by our sweat and our blood.

�Comrades, if we act unitedly and harmoniously, the time is not far distant when we also, in firmly welded ranks, shall be able, without distinction of race or creed, openly to join this common fight of all the workers of all countries against all the capitalists in the whole world.

It may be a matter of deep interest to note what Michael J Shaack, the Captain of Police of Chicago, who prosecuted the heroes of May Day episode of May 1886 and personally stood evidence against the heroes during the farcical trial and succeeded in getting the death sentence on them wrote in his work Anarchist & Anarchy in which he made an attempt to elaborate the ideas of the social revolutionaries. Of course, according to his own ruling class perception what he did is of utmost significance to us in order to understand the ruling class perception, but he also truly depicted the unparalleled heroism of those who embraced martyrdom with deepest of revolutionary conviction and without any remorse or mental shakiness.

The position taken by the social revolutionaries of that time may now seem to be unrealistic as instant abolition of �Wage Slavery� is not possible. But what Schaack tried to explain was that the social revolutionaries were not in a mood to compromise in any form with the capitalist system of wage-slavery. This throws light on the revolutionary spirit and deep hatred against capitalism behind the Hay Market Tragedy and exemplary resilience of those heroes while embracing martyrdom.

In short �Down with Capitalism� and �Down with Wage Slavery� was their battle cry in the fight for reduction of working hours.

STRUGGLE FOR REDUCING

WORKING HOURS

The struggle for shortening of working hours is almost as old as the working-class movement itself. Many relevant questions arise in this connection. When did the demand for reduction of working hours take concrete shape in the annals of the industrial working class movement? What is actually meant by a normal working day? Is it a ten-hours� day or an eight-hours� day? Answers to all these questions are relevant in understanding the implication of the movement for shortening of working hours, the climax of which reached in Chicago�s Haymarket in 1886.

Karl Marx in the first volume of his celebrated work Capital investigated the definition of a normal working day and clearly brought out the nature of the direct clash of interests between the owning class and the working class in settling the issue. In the earliest phase of capitalism efforts were made by the capitalists and the governments representing their interests to lengthen the working day.

Baltimore convention of the First International of the Socialists in August 1866 specified the demand of eight-hours� working-day for the labourers. Almost within two weeks of this convention, the Geneva Congress of the First International was held from 3-8 September 1866 and Marx prepared a detailed instruction for the delegates attending the Congress.

The Geneva Congress finally adopted resolutions on the limitation of the working hours on the lines drafted by Marx.In sum the decisions of the Geneva Congress of the First International raised the question of the eight-hour day to the status of a basic international demand and from then on, in the following decades it was to assume greatest of importance.

The leaders and activists of the labour movement had, however, some definite political ideas which impelled them to action against the rule of capital. To understand these, we need to have some idea of the material conditions which influenced their development.

During the 1870s Chicago became the financial and industrial capital of the Middle West and the third largest city of the United States with nearly half a million strong population by 1873. Of these, a fifth were Germans; there were large numbers of Irish, Scandinavians, and Bohemians (Czechs) as well. Like every big city, Chicago presented a study in contrasts. Magnificent throbbing metropolis, exuberant with breakneck growth, it was at the same time the focus of ethnic conflict, labour ferment and police repression. For its expanding working-class population, the cyclical nature of the economy, combined with the abundance of cheap labour and the seasonal character of many jobs, made destitution and unemployment virtually �a way of life�. Side by side with luxury and splendour existed poverty and distress.

In December 1873, Chicago witnessed the first of a series of demonstrations by the unemployed-�bread-riots�, the news papers called them � in which throngs of workers paraded throughout the streets. Placards held by the demonstrators bore such messages as �Workers of all Lands, Unite!�, �Unity gives strength�, �Work or Bread�, and �Death to Destitution�.

It is this political situation which moulded the political thinking of the future heroes of the hay Market tragedy. The Social Democratic Working men�s Party of North America founded in 1874 provided the labour leaders opportunities for approaching the labour with political doctrines. Peter J. Mcguire, a young political agitator of New York and a leader of this party, in a meeting at Chicago in March 1876 outlined the programme of the party as abolition of capitalism and its replacement by a socialist commonwealth and announced the intention of forming an English section of the party in Chicago and invited the labour leaders to join it. The socialist doctrines appeared to influence the thinking and activities of the champions of labour interest.

At the Hay

Market Square

The American Federation of Labour proposed a strike to take effect not later than May 1, 1881. While the call by the American Federation of Labour and several national unions for a strike in support of the eight-hour-day was not endorsed by the leadership of Knights of Labour, the proposal met with enthusiastic response from the working class, particularly in the large cities. The slogan raised was:

Eight Hours for work

Eight Hours for Recreation, Rest

Eight Hours for Sleep

The militant social revolutionaries within the ranks of labour of Chicago area especially gave rousing call to action. This contributed to further alarm to the owners and protectors of properties.

On May 1, 1886 the eight-hour demonstrations passed peacefully without incident.However, two days after the May 1 demonstration, on May 3 violence did occur in Chicago at a strike that followed lockout at the McCornik Harvesting works. Use of strike breakers with police intervention had resulted in violence, the death of one striker and serious injury to many more. Enraged by the incident, Chicago labour leaders hastily summoned a protest meeting for the following evening, May 4, at Chicago�s Haymarket Square.

When the meeting was about to be concluded, at that moment, some one whose identity was not disclosed, but obviously a hireling and agent-provocateur, threw a bomb killing seven police officers, four workers and injuring scores. At once, a furious battle ensued between the police and the workers leading to further casualties.

Hysteria and anger fused in the national convulsion that followed. The capitalists, their media and the government hysterically laid all blames at the doors of the workers. That said that the threat of �anarchy� had been proved. Sensational newspaper headlines made all attempts to make out that the guilty were obviously those revolutionaries who had been talking so loudly of force and violence. Then followed a farcical trial for judicial murder of the revolutionary leaders.

Reform or

Revolution?

During the 1890s, with capitalism rapidly expanding and all the organizations of the workers steadily increasing in strength, and with no signs of an early proletarian revolution, the main tasks of the working class was necessarily the immediate demands of the daily struggle. But the subsequent Second International developed a rightist orientation within the framework of capitalism to over-emphasize these partial demands. Plainly, this meant to deny the revolutionary objectives of socialism. This also meant weakening of the international outlook and revolutionary fervour of the working class. The issue came to be developed as �Reform vs Revolution� and the International leaders increasingly supported immediate demands exclusively at the expense of revolutionary ideology. In the case of May Day, it meant gradual loss of its revolutionary significance and its observance with reformist line of thinking for years to come. Of course, Russia remained a notable exception. There in view of the maturing up of revolutionary struggle, May Day was consistently used as a weapon for further sharpening of the revolutionary upsurge, as in later days it was used in China, Vietnam, Cuba and other countries where workers marched through revolutionary paths.

The Last

Moments

Arrested leaders were condemned to death by the farcical trial. But the leaders faced it with great fortitude.Captain of the police Sahaack who personally supervised the hanging described the final moments as he saw it.

Not a tremor was visible during adjustment of the rope.. During all the preliminary preparations not a relaxation of nerve or an expression of anguish or despair had been observed. Now the tension of silence was painful. But suddenly there broke from the lips of Spies an exclamation that startled the auditors as if by a shock.�You may strangle this voice,� said he, in clear but subdued tones �but my silence will be more terrible than speech.�

Workers� rights both trade union and social security are being snatched away including eight hours duty which resulted as the benefit of the international working class movement and sacrifice of the May Day heroes of Chicago. In India, the Government of India�s Economic policy document has demanded 12 hours work a day. It is in this situation, the working class of India should rise to the occasion.